Method and apparatus for shrinking sweat-bands of hats.



L. GILLERAN.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SHRINKING SWEAT BANDS 0F HATS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY II. 1916.

1,204,560. Patented Nov. 14, 1916.

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LUKE GILLERAN, OF WOONSOCKET, RHODE ISLAND.

$METI-IOD AND APPARATUS FOR SHRINKIN G SWEAT-BANDS 0F HATS.

To all whom it ma concern Be it known t at I, LUKE GILLERAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Woonsocket, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented new and useful Improvements in Methods of and Apparatus for Shrinking Sweat-Bands of Hats, of Which the following is a specification.

Dealers in hats and caps that have sweatbands are often required to reduce the head size of the sweat-band to suit the head of the customer. Hitherto this has been accom plished by a comparatively laborious and costly method. The usual method has been to detach the sweat-band from the hat, cut off enough of the sweat-band to reduce it to the re uired head size, and then stitch the sweatand to the hat, at the same time stretching the marginal portion that is stitched, thereby producing an effect that is usually called drumming The result of such operation is that the attached marginal portion of the sweat-band is turned outwardly, forming a flange, and the head size of the sweat-band is reduced accordingly. This method requires considerable skill and consumes so much time that the dealers profit is greatly reduced if not wholly eliminated. Furthermore, the head size may not be correct when the o eration is finished, and the operation may ave to be repeated. This happens more often when a comparatively reat reduction in sizeis required, because t e degree to which the attached marginal portion of the sweat-band can be stretched by stitching is limited to about one slze.

My improved method that forms the basis of the present invention makes it possible to shrink the sweat-band without detaching the latter from the hat and without touching the stitches by which it is attached. My shrinking method is accomplished by heating the sweat-band without heating the hat.

Sweat-bands that are made of leather or imitation leather shrink readily when subjected to a moderate degree of heat. By a moderate degree of heat I mean a degree of heat that can be borne by the hand Without burning. Leather of one quality will shrink more readily than leather of another quality,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 11, 1916.

Patented Nov. 14, 1916.

Serial No. 96,811.

and this difference is true also of imitation leathers of different qualities. My method of shrinking can be carried to any degree within a limit of about two sizes, although it might be possible to shrink a leather band more than two sizes, depending upon the quality of the leather. The degree of shrinkin depends not only upon the quality of material, of which the band is composed, but depends also upon the length of time during which the band is undergoing the heating operation, and depends upon the degree of heat used. If, therefore, it is found, after shrinking the band, that it has not been shrunken enough, the shrinking operation can be repeated, and if the band has not previously been shrunken to its limit it will shrink further in consequence of a second or third heating operation.

It is necessary, in the case of a stiff hat, such as a derby, to isolate the latter from the heat that is applied to the sweat-band, in order to guard against softening the sizing and changing the shape of the hat. It is desirable to isolate a soft hat from the heat, especially a soft felt hat, because its shape might be affected or its fibers might be singed by the heat. Consequently my invention contemplates an apparatus suitable for carrying out the shrinking method whereby the sweat-band, and not the hat, may be subjected to heat. The easiest way of heating the sweat-band Without heating the hat, that I know of at present, is to turn the sweat-band outward, and to pass it through an opening of suitable sha e and size in a battle late or guard, using t e latter to isolate tlie brim of the hat from the source of heat. The interior of the crown of the hat may be isolated by placing a guard in it. A convenient element for this purpose would be a crumpled cloth of sufiicient bulk to substantially fill the crown, or at least to fill the circumference of the crown. However, a disk of sheet material of the required shape and size to fit snugly within the crown at the junction of the crown and brim would serve the purpose but as this would require a large number 0 disks of assorted shapes and sizes, the crum led cloth would be more convenient.

Re erring to the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 represents a vertical section through apparatus adapted to carry out my improved method. Fig. 2 represents a vertical section of a portion of the apparatus shown by Fig. 1, including the element shown by Fig. 3 in combination therewith. Fig. 3 represents a plan view of an elliptic protective strip of flexible material that may be used in conjunction with the apparatus shown by Fig. l in the relation shown by Fig. 2.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts wherever they occur.

The apparatus comprises a casing 10 in the form of a standpipe, a heating device 11, a baffle plate or guard 12, and a guard 13.

The casing 10 provides a heating chamber 1 1 in the wall of which is provided a handhole 15. The heating device 11, in the present instance, is in the form of a gas burner, and a screen 16 is interposed between it and the chamber 14:, to distribute the heat evenly through the latter, and to prevent an excessive degree of heat from reaching the users hand and the hat. The casing 10 is adapted to stand on a bench or other support, indicated conventionally at 17, and its lower edge is provided with a notch 18 to receive the pipe or coupling 19 of the burner. The casing may therefore be set over and removed from the burner without disturbing the latter.

The crown, brim, and sweat-band of a hat are indicated respectively at 20, 21 and 22. All sweat-bands are attached to bats by stitches at 23. The guard or baffle plate 12 is formed with an opening adapted to receive the sweat-band when the latter is turned out as shown, such opening, in the present instance, being defined by a downturned flange 24 formed by the inner mar ginal portion of plate 12. This opening is preferably made large enough to take a sweat-band of the largest size, and consequently when a hat of a smaller size is undergoing treatment the inner marginal portion of the brim would be exposed to the heat in the chamber 14, as shown by Fig. 1. In order, therefore, to protect this portion that would otherwise be exposed to the source of heat, an auxiliary guard or baflle plate 25 (Figs. 2 and 3) may be used. Element 25 may be made of any suitable sheet material, and is preferably cap e of being expanded and contracted as to its opening 26, so that its inner edge 27 may be set in contiguous relation to the outturned sweatband. In the present instance the member 25 is composed of soft flexible material, such as felt or asbestos, and is in the form of an elliptic strip, its end edges being indicated at 28 and 29. Its end portions are lapped, as shown by Fig. 2, and a common pin 30 is included to show how the lap portions may be fastened one to another to keep the strip in the desired shape to lit the sweatband. This auxiliary guard would be interposed between the rigid guard 12 and the hat brim, as shown by Fig. Although I have described the element 25 as being composed of soft flexible material, an articulated, pivotally jointed sheet-metal element of substantially the same form would be within the scope of the invention.

In using the apparatus shown, a sweatband would be shrunk as follows. After the sweat-band had been turned out as shown, the guard 13 would be placed in the crown, and if the auxiliary guard 25 were to be used, it would be fitted closely around the sweat-band, and its end portions fastened with a pin substantially as shown by Figs. 2 and 3. The hat would then be ready to be placed upon the casing 10 asshown by Fig. 1. The gas burner having been regulated to produce the required degree of heat, which degree could be ascertained by inserting a hand through hole 15, the hat would be permitted to rest upon the casing for a sufiicient length of time to heat the sweatband. hile the sweat-band is being heated the user of the apparatus could ascertain whether it were in a smooth condition or in a wrinkled condition by inserting his hand through the hole 15, and if the sweatband were found to be in a wrinkled condition it could be smoothed without removing it from the heating chamber. The shrinking operation might require a heating period of ten seconds or more,-depending upon the quality of the sweat-band, upon the degree of heat, and upon the degree of shrinkage required. The marginal portion of the sweat-band that is stitched to the hat would not shrink, because the stitches would hold it to its original size, but the remainder of the sweat-band would shrink substantially as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1.

I claim:

1. The hereindescribed method of shrinking the sweat-band of a hat, which consists in supporting the sweat-band by the hat, and heating such sweat-band while it is attached to and supported by the hat, without appreciably heating the hat.

2. The hereindescribed method of shrinking the sweat-band of a hat, which consists in turning out the sweat-band, and heating such sweat-band while it is turned out but attached to the hat, without appreciably heating the hat.

3. The hereindescribed method of shrinking the sweat-band of a hat, which consists in supporting the hat, and sweat-band attached thereto, over a source of heat, and deflecting the heat away from the hat, but not from the sweat-band.

4. An apparatus for shrinking the sweatband of a hat, comprising a casing forming said chamber, said wall being formed to ina heating chamber, one wall of said casing suiate the hum of the hat from the heat 1n havlng an opening adapted to I'QCBIVE the said chamber.

out-turned sweubbzind, and a heating device In testimony whereof I have aflixed my 10 5 arranged to heat the sweat-band while the signature.

latter extends through said opening into LUKE GILLERAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

